The train operates every Saturday and Sunday on the following schedule:

10:30 AM, 11:30 AM, 12:30 PM, 1:30 PM, 2:30 PM, 3:30 PM.

On Fridays during the school summer break, the schedule is:

10 AM, 11 AM, 12 Noon and 1 PM

The train runs approximately every 30 minutes during evening special events.

Train rides ALWAYS included in admission

1954 Baldwin diesel-electric, June 2017

Texas Transportation Museum visitors can ride our full sized train as often as they want. We offer scheduled train rides every hour on the half hour beginning at 10:30 AM on both Saturday and Sunday. We also sometimes run the train on Friday when we have a school group scheduled in advance. You are invited to call the museum (210) 490-3554 during our regular hours to inquire if the train will be running on the Friday you are interested in. The admission rate is lower on Fridays when the train is not in operation.

1942 General Electric diesel-electric, 2016

The Longhorn & Western RR is TTM's very own private railroad. We built it ourselves from scratch. Almost everything was donated to the museum, including the rolling stock and the very tracks our trains run on. The L & W is entirely the result of amateur volunteer labor! The L & W is the center piece of the museum. We have a genuine Southern Pacific depot, formerly located in Converse, Texas, which was built around 1941. We have two steam engines, two diesels, a passenger car, a business car, and a variety of other rolling stock, including cabooses and motor cars.

The Longhorn & Western railroad consists of 3,700 feet of track. The main line is 1,765 feet long, running from Wetmore Road, adjacent to the Longhorn Siding on the UP's mainline, from which our railroad takes it's name. Construction began in 1975 and completed in 1991 with the addition of a storage track behind the Elvey car barn. The railroad was built using materials and tools acquired from the Missouri-Kansas-Texas, Missouri-Pacific and Southern Pacific Railroads, all of which the Longhorn & Western has outlived.

Longhorn & Western Railroad at the Texas Transportation Museum in San Antonio, early 2000s

Longhorn & Western Railroad railroad tracks looking west, June 2013

TLonghorn & Western Railroad railroad tracks looking east, June 2017

Word About Safety

Everyone at Texas Transportation Museum wants your visit to be a pleasant one. But we also care that it is a safe experience, too. Railroads, by their very nature, are both fascinating and dangerous. IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO STOP A TRAIN QUICKLY. Even going at the slow speed we use at the museum, even in an emergency, a train will travel many more feet than a car would at the same speed. In addition, it is simply not possible for the engineer to see everything that is happening "behind" the train.

Help us to keep our very successful accident prevention record by following this important rule:

KEEP OFF THE TRACKS AT ALL TIMES!

Keep an eye on your kids. Don't let them wander off on their own. Keep them away from the tracks and from the roads. We try to keep our exhibits out where you can see them, but much of it is both rare and easily damaged.